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Trial, not randomized · measured other health measures

7-week trial in 16 men: cold water after weights led to smaller fibre growth

Fyfe and colleagues · Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2019

Original title: Cold water immersion attenuates anabolic signaling and skeletal muscle fiber hypertrophy, but not strength gain, following whole-body resistance training.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to harm

Leg press strength gains were similar in both groups. Growth of type II muscle fibres was smaller with cold water (-1,959 ± 1,675 µM2). Muscle growth signals were blunted.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Trial, not randomized
Who or what was studied
16 people · 16 young men doing 7 weeks of weight training
What was tested
15 minutes in 10°C water after each session, 3 days a week for 7 weeks, vs 15 minutes of rest at 23°C
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
How long
7 weeks
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 2019
Source
PubMed record 31513450. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • –Not randomized: the groups may differ in ways that affect the result.
  • –Small: 16 people. Small trials can miss real effects or find chance ones.
  • –Short: 7 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: muscle recovery and mood

    8

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 5 no difference, 1 harm

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    8

    2 benefit, 1 mixed, 4 no difference, 1 harm

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    3

    1 benefit, 2 no difference

  4. Population studies

    3

    2 benefit, 1 mixed

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does cold plunging help recovery and mood?”

Eases soreness a little; mood unproven.

Confidence: low. Based on 30 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 7 papers on the same step: 2 benefit, 1 mixed, 4 no difference. This one found harm. It differs from most of them.

Other papers on the same step

See all 30 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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